From Netflix to Spotify, Game Pass and beyond: Give the gift of a subscription this year

"The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" is one of the best exclusive entertainment benefits of Amazon Prime.

Nicole Rivelli/Amazon Prime Video

Buying a subscription service for someone has never been easier. There are more services now for more things than ever before. However, choosing which service to gift, well that's where the difficulty lies. Which is why we've simplified your subscription service choices into top threes, over three different categories: video streaming, music streaming and console gaming.

Video streaming services

An Amazon Prime membership not only gets you free two-day shipping on certain items, but also access to Amazon's vast library of video content, including movies, TV shows and a growing host of original content.

Netflix is the de facto video streaming service. Its greatest strength is its original shows you can't watch anywhere else, like Stranger Things, the current Marvel Netflix shows like Daredevil and Jessica Jones, Orange Is the New Black, Black Mirror and Narcos. There's also cult revivals like Fuller House and Mystery Science Theater 3000.

It's also host to a large number of new and old movies and TV shows. However, each month it loses its license to certain content and gains the ability to stream others. So, you need to pay attention, but this is rarely a big issue.

Price: $7.99 for basic (non-HD, one device at a time); $10.99 for standard (HD, two devices at a time); $13.99 for Premium (4K and up to four devices can watch at the same time).

Music streaming services

With a vast music catalog and compatibility with most devices, Spotify earns our top pick. Also, if you don't want to pay anything, Spotify offers the best features of any other service.

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Price: The free plan lets you shuffle songs among many other things. $9.99 per month gets you access to downloads, no ads, unlimited skips, every song in the Spotify library and high quality audio tracks.

Apple Music can be played on pretty much every Apple device, Android and on PC. It also offers a digital locker to store your own songs.

Price: Apple Music starts at $4.99 per month for students, $9.99 for individuals and $14.99 for families.

Tidal

Here's why you choose Tidal over the other two: It offers the best audio streaming quality, some exclusive music from Beyonce, Jay-Z, Kanye and other artists, and if you're a hardcore hip hop fan, there's a big focus on underground artists you'd likely not otherwise have discovered.

Price: There's a bunch of plans, but the ones most will be interested in are the $9.99 Premium plan and the $19.99 HiFi option that includes lossless high fidelity sound quality.